House Clearance Help & Advice: What to look for when choosing a nursing home

Back to Help & Advice index

Making the decision to put a parent into a nursing or care home is one of the hardest choices you will have to make in life and with that choice comes many different feelings and worries.

The obvious worry you have will be if your parent will be looked after like you want them to be, the next is how your parent will react to going into a care home or nursing home. In order to put your mind at rest here are some factors which can help you to choose a nursing home when and if the time comes to do so.

An elderly person might be better off in a nursing home for many different reasons and you as a child should never feel guilty if you cannot look after an elderly parent properly. As there could be many different reasons as to why, your elderly parent needs care, there are basically three different types of nursing home.

Skilled nursing care, intermediate nursing care and custodial nursing care, however besides knowing the particular needs of your parent you will also have to take into account the environment of the nursing home, socially.

One of the most important factors in choosing the nursing home is the location. It is much easier if the nursing home is within a short drive away from the majority of the family or at least the closest family members. This will make visiting much easier and will ease the transition of you parent into the nursing home environment if they are still in the same area in which they have always lived.

Another big factor is what the nursing home offers, for example if your loved one can still get out and about and is fairly active then is there space for them to take a nice walk or go and sit outside. Are there any daily activities for the residents to attend, such as clubs and religious services? Is there a library if your loved one likes to read or an area where they can go and sit and relax and watch TV or talk with others?, all these little things can make such as huge difference as to how your loved one settles down into the home.

If your loved one is disabled, are there the special requirements that they need, for example if they are in a wheelchair will access to any of the places be restricted in any way? If your loved one has any mental disabilities will the staff be able to handle them and give them a good quality of life or will your loved one be left out and feel excluded?

The next factor you have to consider is who will be paying the bill for the nursing home, if you are going to ask for help towards the cost of paying for the home then you could be limited to what you can expect by way of extra facilities and might be tied down to just the bare essentials provided by many care homes.

Call us today on FREEPHONE 0800 0352653 or contact us via e-mail.